Mass transit vehicles and particularly buses generally provide a central aisle and two rows of seats each on a respective side of the aisle and adjacent the side windows. For the safety of standing and moving passengers it is necessary to provide a series of stanchions along the aisle on respective sides of the aisle and extending either from the floor or from a seat to the ceiling so that the stanchion can be readily grasped by the hand of the passenger when standing or moving. The top of the stanchion must therefore be attached at the roof or ceiling of the vehicle and for this purpose longitudinal rails are commercially available attached to the interior of the roof to receive the top end of the stanchion. The base of the stanchion can be attached to the floor or to the seat, thus accommodating different locations of the stanchions as required by a particular bus construction. The above rails are common in Europe but are not widely used in North America.
In addition, it is necessary at the interior of the roof to provide air transportation ducts so that heated air when necessary for heating the bus or cooled air when necessary for cooling the bus or simply ventilation air when neither heating nor cooling is required is transmitted longitudinally of the bus from a supply fan to reach the individual passengers.
Examples of such ceiling mounted ducts are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,574,336 and 5,857,758 both issued to Transmatic Inc. In both cases, the air transportation duct is associated with and located behind a lighting and advertisement card mounting structure positioned at the cornice between the horizontal roof portion and the vertical side wall. This leaves the central area between the inner most edge of the lighting free from structural elements along the aisle so that the maximum headroom is provided on the underside of the roof and the stanchions can be attached to the roof at spaced portions along the length of the roof.
In recent years, low floor buses have been introduced where the height of a front section of the floor is reduced to the minimum height necessary to clear the axles and suspension so as to eliminate steps at the entrance to the bus. In order to maintain the total overall stiffness of the side wall of the bus, the total overall height has been maintained equal to that of conventional bus structures. Thus the length of the side wall from the bottom of the window to the bottom edge of the side wall is reduced but this is compensated by an increase in the height of the side wall above the top edge of the window. In this way the spacing from the ceiling to the floor is increased. This also acts to maximize the volume within the bus and provide the maximum head room and the maximum feeling of spaciousness within the bus.
It is one object of the present invention, therefore, to provide an improved inferior structure for a public transit vehicle, particularly in regard to the air supply to the passengers and in regard to the arrangement of ceiling panels and stanchions. Such an arrangement also can provide space for the storage of air tanks, fluid lines, electrical harnesses and other equipment such that these elements can be mounted above the ceiling rather than under the floor.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a public transit vehicle comprising:
a vehicle body having:
a roof,
two side walls each extending longitudinally of the vehicle including an upper side wall portion connecting to the roof and a row of windows underneath the upper portion,
a vehicle floor connected to the side walls and spanning therebetween;
two rows of seats for seated passengers each along a respective one of the side walls at the windows and defining a central aisle therebetween for standing and moving passengers;
and an air supply system for supplying air to the passengers comprising:
an air supply assembly including a main drive fan mounted at the roof;
an air transfer ducting arrangement connected to the air supply assembly and receiving air therefrom, the ducting arrangement being located underneath The roof at the roof, centrally of the roof and longitudinally of the vehicle body;
a first plurality of feeder ducts extending from the ducting arrangement across the roof to one side wall, the feeder ducts being spaced longitudinally along the vehicle body so as to communicate with different sections of said one side wall;
a second plurality of feeder ducts extending from the ducting arrangement across the roof to the other side wall, the feeder ducts being spaced longitudinally along the vehicle body so as to communicate with different sections of said other side wall;
each section of each of the side walls including air distribution elements for distributing the air to passengers at the section.
Preferably the vehicle body includes a ceiling panel above the heads of the standing passengers and below the roof and wherein the ducting arrangement is provided above the ceiling panel.
Preferably the ducting arrangement is defined at the top by the roof and at the bottom by the ceiling panel.
Preferably the ceiling panel has openings along side edges thereof for discharging cooled air.
Preferably the air distribution elements include a duct along the top of the windows and openings in the duct for discharging cooled air.
Preferably the air distribution elements include a diverter valve arrangement which can be moved to direct cooled air to the top of the windows and heated air to the bottom of the windows and to a position adjacent the floor.
Preferably the air distribution elements include a duct defined through a framing post of the vehicle for communicating heated air downwardly from the top of the side wall to a position below the windows adjacent the floor.
Preferably the air distribution elements include a chamber defined in the side wall below the windows by an internal panel of the side wall, the chamber being arranged to be filled by heated air and including top and bottom discharge openings to allow heated air to discharge upwardly from a top of the chamber onto the window and from a position adjacent the bottom of the chamber.
Preferably the air distribution elements include a duct defined through a framing post of the vehicle for communicating heated air downwardly from the top of the side wall to a the chamber.
Preferably there is provided a lighting housing arranged along each side of the ducting arrangement and wherein the feeder ducts comprise individual duct elements separate from the lighting housing and passing above the lighting housing.
Preferably there is provided two stanchion support rails each extending longitudinally of the roof on a respective side of the ducting arrangement, wherein there is provided a plurality of passenger stanchions at spaced positions along the aisle at respective sides of the aisle and attached to a respective one of the support rails.
Preferably the vehicle body includes a ceiling panel above the heads of the standing passengers and below the roof and wherein the ceiling panel extends between and is supported by the support rails.
Preferably the ceiling panel extends across the aisle at a height lower than the support rails.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a public transit vehicle comprising:
a vehicle body having:
a roof,
two side walls each extending longitudinally of the vehicle including an upper side wall portion connecting to the roof and a row of windows underneath the upper portion,
a vehicle floor connected to the side walls and spanning therebetween;
two rows of seats for seated passengers each along a respective one of the side walls at the windows and defining a central aisle therebetween for standing and moving passengers;
two stanchion support rails each extending longitudinally of the roof on a respective side of the central aisle, each rail having a plurality of passenger stanchions at spaced positions along the rail at a respective side of the aisle;
and a ceiling panel above the heads of the standing passengers and below the roof which extends between the support rails.
Preferably the ceiling panel extends across the aisle at a height lower than the support rails.
Preferably the ceiling panel has edges thereof supported by respective ones of the support rails.
Preferably the ceiling panel is wider than the width of the aisle at the top of the seats and wherein the stanchions are inclined upwardly and outwardly from the top of the seats to the rails.
Preferably the stanchions are curved so as to have a convex curvature facing inwardly of the aisle.
Preferably some of the stanchions have a bottom end connected to the top of one of the seats and some have a bottom end connected to the floor and wherein those with the bottom end connected to the floor have a bottom portion inclined outwardly and downwardly such that the bottom end attached to the floor is spaced outwardly of an intermediate portion.
Preferably the intermediate portion is arranged at approximately the same height as a seat bottom and wherein the stanchion is inclined upwardly and outwardly from the intermediate portion to the support rail.
According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a public transit vehicle comprising:
a vehicle body having:
a roof,
two side walls each extending longitudinally of the vehicle including an upper side wall portion connecting to the roof and a row of windows underneath the upper portion,
a vehicle floor connected to the side walls and spanning therebetween;
two rows of seats for seated passengers each along a respective one of the side walls at the windows and defining a central aisle therebetween for standing and moving passengers;
and a plurality of passenger stanchions, wherein some of the stanchions have a bottom end connected to the top of one of the seats and some have a bottom end connected to the floor and wherein those with the bottom end connected to the floor have a bottom portion inclined outwardly and downwardly such that the bottom end attached to the floor is spaced outwardly of an intermediate portion and wherein the stanchion is inclined upwardly and outwardly of the aisle from the intermediate portion to a support adjacent the roof.